VEHICLE SPEED DETERMINATION VIA INFRARED IMAGING
First Claim
1. A method for determining the speed of a motor vehicle in a vehicle speed detection system, the method comprising:
- receiving a plurality of infrared images of a motor vehicle traveling on a road, each of said images being separated in time by a known interval, said infrared images having been captured using an infrared imaging system operating in an infrared wavelength band selected such that a contrast between the tires of said vehicle and the road surface is enhanced in said images;
determining, for each of at least two of said images, a point of contact where a same tire of said vehicle contacts said road surface, such that a height of each point of contact is zero;
mapping said points of contact to a (x,y) two dimensional coordinate system, such that each point of contact has a (x,y) set of coordinates;
using said coordinates and said time interval separations to calculate a speed at which said vehicle is traveling on said road; and
communicating said vehicle'"'"'s speed to a computer system.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method which detects and uses a point of contact between a vehicle'"'"'s tire and the pavement as a reference point to improve the accuracy of vehicle speed detection in a motorized vehicle speed detection system. In one embodiment, a plurality of infrared images of a moving vehicle are received. Each of the images is separated in time by known intervals. The images are captured using an infrared camera which can be a single-band or multi-band camera which operates in an infrared wavelength band selected to enhance a contrast between the vehicle'"'"'s tires and the road surface. For each image, a point of contact is determined where a same tire contacts the road surface. These points and the time interval separations are used to calculate the vehicle'"'"'s speed. An alert signal is initiated to a traffic enforcement authority if the speed exceeds the road'"'"'s speed limit.
8 Citations
25 Claims
-
1. A method for determining the speed of a motor vehicle in a vehicle speed detection system, the method comprising:
-
receiving a plurality of infrared images of a motor vehicle traveling on a road, each of said images being separated in time by a known interval, said infrared images having been captured using an infrared imaging system operating in an infrared wavelength band selected such that a contrast between the tires of said vehicle and the road surface is enhanced in said images; determining, for each of at least two of said images, a point of contact where a same tire of said vehicle contacts said road surface, such that a height of each point of contact is zero; mapping said points of contact to a (x,y) two dimensional coordinate system, such that each point of contact has a (x,y) set of coordinates; using said coordinates and said time interval separations to calculate a speed at which said vehicle is traveling on said road; and communicating said vehicle'"'"'s speed to a computer system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A system for determining the speed of a motor vehicle in a vehicle speed detection system, the system comprising:
-
an infrared imaging system operating in an infrared wavelength band selected such that a contrast between tires of said vehicle and a road surface is enhanced in said images; and a processor in communication with said video camera system and a memory, said processor executing machine readable instructions for performing; receiving infrared images captured using said infrared imaging system, each of said infrared images being separated in time by a known interval; determining, for each of at least two of said images, a point of contact where a same tire of said vehicle contacts said road surface, such that a height of each point of contact is zero; mapping said points of contact to a (x,y) two dimensional coordinate system, such that each point of contact has a set of (x,y) coordinates; using said coordinates and said time interval separations to calculate a speed at which said vehicle is traveling on said road; and communicating said vehicle'"'"'s speed to a computer system. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A computer implemented method for determining the speed of a motor vehicle in a vehicle speed detection system, the method comprising:
-
receiving a plurality of infrared images of a moving vehicle, said images captured at known time intervals with each of said images being separated in time by a known interval, said images having been captured using an infrared imaging system operating in an infrared wavelength band selected such that a contrast between the tires of said vehicle and the road surface is enhanced in said images; determining, for each of at least two of said images, a point of contact where a same tire of said vehicle contacts said road surface, such that a height of each point of contact is zero; mapping said points of contact to a (x,y) two dimensional coordinate system, such that each point of contact has a (x,y) set of coordinates; using said coordinates and said time interval separations to calculate a speed at which said vehicle is traveling on said road; and communicating said vehicle'"'"'s speed to a computer system. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
-
Specification